How do you FIRE a board member?

I looked in the bylaws and there is nothing to support how you would relieve a board member from their position? It's really sad when it comes to the need to fire a volunteer. I sent an email to the entire board and cc her in as well stating that I motion to relieve her of her duties. I provided a plan of action, resons why and a solution to cover the position. Should something be added to our bylaws for future instructing how to release an officer from there duties because it is "that BAD"

our pto is not indpendent and the next line above is the principal. thats who we would go to to handle such matters, as the principal is the ultimate 'managaer' of all parent voluntteers at our school.

Reply to beignets

Yes, your bylaws should include a section describing why & how an officer would be removed from office. Ours is stated this way, "Removal - An officer can be removed from office for failure to fulfill his/her duties, after reasonable notice, by a majority vote of the Executive Board."

In my experience, we've never had to remove an officer so I can't tell you how this wording plays out in real life. But it's suitably broad and appropriately specific so it's probably perfectly written.

You could write a code of Conduct that would outline what behavior is considered acceptable and unacceptable by the PTO. It would also include what steps would be taken for volunteers, chairpersons and Executive Board members should they violate the code of conduct and terms of removal from their positions.

The reason I ask is that you indicated that you personally "sent an email to the entire board and cc her in as well stating that I motion to relieve her of her duties". I would hope that you are the President as only the President should be handling something of this nature. Also, I think this is something that may have been handled differently in that maybe firstly the Executive Board should have discussed this and decided if they wanted this person to be replaced. If so, then the President should have contacted or met with this person to inform them. Then the entire committee could have been informed that the position of "whatever" is in need of a replacement. Not sure if specific details would have been needed to be given, just that the position is open and that the board is looking for a replacement and a disciption of the responsibilities.

Often the Bylaws indicates who has authority over the group. If they don't give specifics for relieving a committee head, then if they indicate something like "the Executive Board has complete control and authority" or anything like that, then it would be their responsibility to take care of this.

The only reason I mention this is that too often groups such as ours are looked at as cliques. If a single person (no matter how bad things are) to be spotlighted negatively in front of the entire group then the group may end up being looked at negatively for handling things that way.

Our PTO had the same issues as to how a board member can be removed from position because of conduct issues with that member. We created a bylaw committee with the hopes of resolving a couple of misinterpretations in our by laws and one of them being how to relieve a board member of their position. We wrote a code of conduct that is for not only for the board but it is also directed to all pto members of the school.
It will hopefully help in letting members know that bad behavior will not be tolerated. I truely hope that it helps our situation and yours. Good luck.